1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns an electrical connector housing member.
The invention concerns electrical connectors comprising a first housing member having a series of channels each adopted to receive an electrical contact member and a housing member complementary to the first housing member with a series of channels each adapted to receive an electrical contact member complementary to those of said first housing member.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To retain the electrical contact members in the channels, elastic locking lugs are generally provided with a projecting lug in the channels adapted to cooperate with a corresponding opening in the electrical contact member so that when the contact member is being inserted the lug retracts elastically and when the contact member is in position the lug is inserted in the opening to immobilize the member.
As the electrical contact members and the housings are often very small, if traction is applied to the conductors to which said members are fixed, the locking lugs are bent and said members can be detached unintentionally.
To overcome this drawback it has been proposed to provide a passage between two adjacent channels and to insert in it an immobilizing member which, cooperating with the outside face of the locking lugs, prevents them bending.
If the connectors are in locations subject to significant temperature differences or vibration there is provided in addition to the above locking system a complementary locking key in the form of a strip or a comb that engages in the housing element perpendicularly to the axes of the channels and which abuts against the rear end of the electrical contact members.
An arrangement of the above kind is totally effective but it has the drawback of being relatively complex, in particular with regard to the fabrication of the housing element. Also, it can be used only when the housing elements are parallelepiped-shape and the channels are parallel and in parallel planes.
An aim of the invention is to provide an electrical connector housing element that combines the advantages of an immobilizing member and of a locking key and which remedies the drawbacks of the prior art connector housing element.